President Donald Trump sued CBS and parent company Paramount over the network's dubious editing of an October 2024 "60 Minutes" interview with then-Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, in which her long-winded "word salad" responses were trimmed down to sound more succinct and intelligible.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Paramount had agreed to a $16 million settlement and other concessions to end the civil suit before it went to trial, the Associated Press reported.

Notably, neither Paramount nor CBS acknowledged any wrongdoing in the agreement, but it still constitutes a significant win for Trump, and follows his victorious $15 million settlement with ABC News to end a defamation suit in December and $25 million settlement with Meta in January over the suspension of Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot of 2021.

Trump claims victory with settlement

According to Fox News, Paramount will pay $16 million upfront to settle the lawsuit, which will entail coverage of President Trump's attorney fees and court costs, along with a sizeable contribution to either his presidential library or some other Trump-approved charitable cause.

The report noted that there is also the possibility that Paramount could also allocate a similar amount to be used for "advertisements, public service announcements, or other similar transmissions, in support of conservative causes" on its networks, but that claim has been disputed by the company's management.

Additionally, the settlement involved CBS agreeing to implement what will likely be known as the "Trump rule," in which the network will update its editorial standards to include the mandatory prompt release of unedited transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates.

A spokesperson for Trump's legal team told Fox News, "With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit."

"CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle," the spokesperson added. "President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People as he continues on his singular mission to Make America Great Again."

Anti-Trump senator demands investigation of settlement

The timing of the settlement is not without controversy, of course, as critics have pointed to a pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media, which will require the approval of the Federal Communications Commission, which is currently led by pro-Trump Chairman Brendan Carr.

The Fox News report indicated that Paramount's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, pushed hard for the settlement ahead of the merger despite strenuous objections from others at Paramount and CBS, including multiple executives who resigned in protest, in hopes of avoiding possible "retribution" from the Trump administration or disapproval of the merger by the FCC.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, that prompted anti-Trump Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to demand a congressional investigation of the settlement agreement and a call for legislation "to rein in corruption through presidential library donations."

"With Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs his administration’s approval for its billion-dollar merger, this could be bribery in plain sight," the Democratic senator said. "Paramount has refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry, so I’m calling for a full investigation into whether or not any anti-bribery laws were broken."

Paramount-Skydance merger at risk

THR also reported that Biden-appointed Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez is trying to put the skids on the proposed Paramount-Skydance merger following the news of Paramount's settlement with President Trump with a demand for a public vote by the full commission, ostensibly in the interest of complete transparency for the American people.

"This moment marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment, and it should alarm anyone who values a free and independent press," Gomez said in a statement. "Approving this transaction behind closed doors would be a shameful outcome that denies the American people the transparency and accountability they deserve, especially when press freedom is at stake."